Buhari takes a swipe at Nigeria's democracy

Former military ruler, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday branded the current mode of democracy in the country as nonsense.
For him, the country cannot be said to be practising true democracy when elections are neither free nor fair, votes are wantonly stolen and people are killed with impunity.
General Buhari, presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in last year’s election said his party has now decided to mobilise its members nationwide to “make it very unattractive for Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials or other law enforcement agencies to cooperate with whoever wants to rig election.”
He asked CPC members to rise up to this challenge for the sake of their children and grandchildren.
 He spoke at the first CPC Renewal Committee Stakeholders forum in Abuja.
He decried the level of insecurity in the country and blamed the federal authorities for shirking its responsibility on security.
 He said: “I said I believe in this system. In 1991 nobody lectured me to become a democrat but when the Soviet Union collapsed then I came to the conclusion that democratic system is the best.
 “Elections must be free and fair otherwise it is nonsense. So we are doing nonsense in Nigeria. Nigeria is practising nonsense democracy.  I do not know when it will stop. If CPC is the only threat to PDP, of course, PDP will do anything to destroy CPC. So it is up to CPC to maintain political integrity.
 “Votes are stolen; people are beaten up and houses burnt and some of them killed. Where ever you go one day you will come back home which is Nigeria. So we must join hands to stabilize the country for sustainable development.
 “Movement in Nigeria now is so dangerous. In fact, I wonder if the insurance companies are still agreeing to insure lives, because if the Federal Government cannot pay some departments and so on and if the pension funds are not available, I think people should be very careful.”
Buhari stressed the need for unity of purpose by party members ahead of the 2015 elections with a view to defeating the ruling PDP.
 Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and chairman of the CPC Renewal Committee, Mallam Nasiru el-Rufai said the planned merger between the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and CPC would end PDP rule in 2015.
 El-Rufai encouraged Buhari to continue with the merger negotiation and advised members of the party not to relent in the renewal process.
 He said: “It is Buhari’s commitment and example that is driving all of us to work harder to renew CPC which is the only hope that Nigeria has for 2015. Our hope is to merge with other likeminded political parties to ensure that we see the end of the PDP in the 2015 election. I do not want to say much about that because it is ongoing. General Buhari is in charge of the merger this time around and by God’s grace it is going to happen. We should think about how we can secure our party for the future.”